The words flowed out of Mitch Kupchak’s mouth perhaps as quickly as Kobe Bryant shot the ball in his career finale. Kupchak sounded as giddy as any of the 18,997 fans at Staples Center that witnessed Bryant scoring 60 points in a season-ending win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

“I would put that night up against any Game 7, any championship in terms of performance,” Kupchak said, mindful of the atmosphere when the Lakers beat the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals in seven games. “It certainly didn’t wipe away our record, but that was a special, special evening.”

As Kupchak alluded to, the Lakers ended the 2015-16 season with a 17-65 mark in what represented the worst record in franchise history. The Lakers also no longer have a star player once connected to the franchise’s championship history.

Yet, Kupchak sounded more optimistic about his rebuilding project this year, partly because of those two otherwise negative variables.

“We have a lot more assets on our team than we did last year,” said Kupchak, who could land a top three pick as a consolation prize for a poor season. “Although we had Kobe, it’s tough to predict how much he’d play with his injuries.”

Before completing 66 games in his final season through right shoulder soreness, Bryant played a combined 41 games the previous two seasons with overlapping ailments to his left Achilles (April 2013), left knee (December 2013) and right shoulder (January 2014).

The Lakers also will have as much as $60 million in cap space because of Bryant’s retirement, Roy Hibbert’s free agency and Brandon Bass likely declining his player option.

“That doesn’t mean we’ll use it all. We have to recruit effectively,” Kupchak said. “We’re in a much better situation than we were a year ago or two years ago.”

Kupchak raved about Russell’s passing. Kupchak expressed optimism Clarkson will improve his defense. Kupchak gushed about the versatility of Randle and Nance. And Kupchak called Brown a “development player.”

Hence, Kupchak maintained “anything is possible” on any trades regardless of how the Lakers fare in the NBA lottery on May 17. If the Lakers fall out of the top three, they will owe the pick to Philadelphia as part of the Steve Nash deal.

“There are some quality players that can be starters and All-Stars in this league that go beyond two players,” Kupchak said of the 2016 draft class.

Still, Kupchak does not plan to field a roster just with players who still could have had college eligibility. Kupchak also considered adding frontcourt depth the biggest priority.

“That could take 10-15 years and we don’t feel like we have that kind of timeline here in Los Angeles,” Kupchak said. “So our approach has been to build through the draft, be aggressive in free agency, and then if you have the assets, then you have the ability to make trades.”

Kupchak stressed that urgency has nothing to do with Jim Buss’ self-imposed timeline. In 2014, Buss said he would step down if the Lakers did not become Western Conference contenders in three years.

“If in fact that is true, that doesn’t mean I’m going to encourage us to go out and spend $60 million on veteran players to longtime deals that might only assure us mediocrity,” Kupchak said. “That’s not how we’ve sat down and decided to advance this team.”

Instead, Kupchak has envisioned a championship roster, though that might not happen as quickly and dramatically as a Bryant game-winner.

“That will always be our goal,” Kupchak said. “What I think we need to do to be realistic is to show great progress and hope going forward.”

Mark Medina has been the Lakers beat writer for the Los Angeles Daily News since 2012. He also works as a Lakers insider for AM570 and is heard on national radio outlets, including The Dan Patrick Show, The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The Chris Mannix Show, Fox Sports Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio and SB Nation Radio. Medina also appears frequently on Spectrum SportsNet and NBC4's "Going Roggin."

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